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From Kyle Hollingsworth:
Here we go! It's a new year in brews. I've got a feeling it's going to be a good beer year.

I started 2014 in San Diego with my friends at Stone Brewing Company. We're making a nationally-released beer for the spring. This is a collaboration between Stone, Keri Kelli and me - guitarist for Alice Cooper and beer connoisseur from LA.

It's a wild mixture on many levels. Keri and I are pretty far apart in our music worlds, but it makes for great "mashup" of hard rock and funk. The beer will definitely go to 11! With an ABV of 9.8% and coriander, elderberries it's as unusual as our musical backgrounds. Look for that at special events in April and everywhere soon after.

More immediately, I'm working with SKA Brewing Company for a one-off brew. This is for my upcoming 2014 BrewSki tour in Colorado. I'm excited to get out and play yet another fun weekend with music, brews, and snow. With "Kyle's Manipulated Modus IPA," we added more hops (if you can believe that), an additional dry hop of Mandarina Bavaria and an orange peel in a whirlpool. I haven't tasted it yet, looking forward to the enhanced flavor profiles.

There are lots of new brews in the works for 2014. I'm getting ready to release a new solo disc in August and plan to have a beer come out with each single. I'm calling it "Hop tracks." Stay tuned for more info on these brews.

Reviews by StlHopHead77:

More User Reviews:

Pours very cloudy gold color with some amber hues and a nice 1 finger foamy white head that was full of bigger bubbles and faded slowly, leaving very nice foamy lacing and rings as it went down, as well and a layer on top. Stone beers almost always look great when poured from a bomber and this beer kept up the legacy.

Wow, I could smell the juicy citrus hops from 6 inches away; aroma includes grapefruit, lemon zest, citrus hops, tangerine and light caramel, but then it shifts to grains, fruit, herbs and I assume the elderberries listed on the bottle. Spices and coriander did not show up in the nose, and this smelled like a very citrus centric IPA.

Tastes of pink grapefruit, lemon, citrus hops, pepper, coriander (showed up quick, first sip) and other mild spices, toasted grains, honey, fruit like a sour apple, herbs, tea leaf, biscuit or a saltine cracker, and the elderberries listed on the bottle since that is a strong taste that I can’t pin down otherwise. The herbal and spicy hop flavors are almost minty and dry hop-like, with a lot of floral feel considering how citrus forward the smell and initial flavor is. Maybe that’s the trick with these “special” ingredients, as it is different from most DIPA’s in a way that’s hard to describe – almost like dry spruce or pine cones are in the mix for an earthy feel and flavor that then revert back to grapefruit and a bitter finish.

Mouthfeel is smooth with a medium to almost chewy body, light to average carbonation, and a slightly bitter aftertaste that is on the dry side and seemingly chalky. Definitely a different beer, it hides the ABV quite well and has nice juicy citrus flavors, but there is almost a tart funk or bitterness that has stick like characteristics, which may be from the elderberries. I can’t tell if it was balanced as the malty or grainy cracker backbone do add balance but not much real value to the overall brew, so each sip is an evaluation of the dry hops and herbs after the citrus fades. I liked this beer, but if they brewed it again I am only 50/50 on buying it again – it was very good, but not mind blowing, so my advice would be to buy a bottle if you’re seeking a different kind of DIPA.

Taste brings orange peel, fair bitterness, candied orange mostly, with a decent citrus and mild fruity note, generic background fruit. Lots of malts, sweet candy malt, syrupy without being too sweet, little toffee, lots of caramel, candy bar like notes, etc, like a real candy bar. Little stone fruit note, some mild bitter berry most likely the elderberry, and even almost like an apple or pear like ester flavor, with some mild estery booze character that warms a bit. Fair bitterness, to balance the sweetness a bit as well. Just a touch of coriander when I really search for it. Finish is sticky sweet, some candy flavors, caramel, toffee, etc, with a little candied orange peel again, mild citrus and bitter rind notes with touch of elderberry lingering, more caramel and toffee candy.

Overall not bad, a bit too malty and candy sweetness for a typical nice Stone IPA, but not bad. Decent hops but not great, too much sweetness, too much candy caramel malts, elderberries and coriander barely come through as they're drowned in all the rest of the big beer, but a decent one. Probably won't get again, not one of Stone's best.

Appearance: burnt orange to reddish orange color. two fingers of a foamy head that leaves behind a fairly strong lacing on most of the glass. opaque due to haziness.

Smell: passionfruit and other tropical fruit. some of the fruit comes off almost candy sweet. a whiff of an aromatic honey

Taste: unlike the nose it starts off with coriander along with malts, bready, some lemon bread sweetness, rich caramel and some strong flavorful honey. back end is full of fruit, but not quite the hoppy tropical fruit found in the nose. Some slight alcohol to it.

Mouthfeel: medium to full bodied. extremely dry and very strong lingering bitterness. some alcohol warmth.

Overall: The last to IIPAs from Stone were very good so i decided to give this one a chance. I am always a fan of experimental IPAs to change the pace. This one is good not great. the smell and taste are almost completely different and the taste might just have a little bit too much going on to do the most good. all in all a cool beer to try but not a must have.

Another classic in the long line of Stone IPA's. I wish they would make more of this one, than a one time. Had it on tap and it was one of the better beers I tasted. Bought a growler, looking forward to enjoying it tomorrow.